SINGAPORE -- Beijing is firming up an oral agreement to buy 80 more Boeing 737s three months after making its first, written commitment for 70 of the aircraft during President Bush's visit to China, a senior Boeing executive said.

Completion of the combined 150-jet deal, which could come during Chinese President Hu Jintao's planned visit to the U.S. in April, would make it the biggest batch of Boeing planes to be sold in China so far.

Chinese aviation authorities have already signed contracts and paid deposits for the initial 70 single-aisle 737s that they committed to buy when Mr. Bush traveled to China in November, said Larry Dickenson, senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific region for Boeing's commercial aircraft unit. That sale, at list prices, is valued at about $4 billion, though buyers usually get substantial discounts, especially for large orders.

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[Edited 2006-02-21 17:58:33]

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.' T.Roosevelt

This was my belief all along. China orders are political. And it's one reason that Boeing says Airbus was lying about their 150 firmed orders in 2005 for the A320. Boeing likely had THE SAME deal at the time, but didn't feel it was right to list all 150 at that time, and got pissed when Airbus took liberties to 'win' the year. Just my take on the whole thing. Either way, they both sold about the same number of planes, with or without the China order.

It will be very interesting to see where they will deploy all airplanes. ATW had an article which said that there are just 194 certified airports in China, compared to 14807 Airports in the US, 444 in Australia and tiny Iceland has 100 airports.

Dream no small dream; it lacks magic. Dream large, then go make that dream real - Donald Douglas

Congratulations to both Boeing and China. This had been rumoured for some time but its good to get a final confirmation. Its always great to see this old girl attract some major orders. But just like the 150 A320 order, this is nothing more than politacly motivated.

Quoting NYC777 (Reply 6):It seems to me that Boeing is being a bit more honest in accounting for when orders are firmed and deposits are paid.

More to the point, Boeing can't get away with the Shennanigans Airbus pulled at the end of the year. The investors, media and government would jump all over them.

a) Because Boeing has active investigations for some of their actions under Condit.
b) Because moving up orders like this and "warming up the books" was a direct factor in the .COM crash.

Airbus can get away with the same actions because the European laws are different, they don't have the same stigma, and the .COM crash happened in America, not Europe.

Quoting FlyingHippo (Reply 12):
Exactly. So Airbus did not break any laws by posting their Chinese orders on their 2005 books. If EU adopts GAAP in 2006, Airbus cannot follow the same practice.

Airbus is protected from a ton of different reporting requirements because of the unique EADS/Airbus structure. It should be noted that the new accounting rules (Sarbenes/Oxley) in America are far stricter still then GAAP when it comes to reporting requirements.

Quoting Ikramerica (Reply 4):This was my belief all along. China orders are political. And it's one reason that Boeing says Airbus was lying about their 150 firmed orders in 2005 for the A320. Boeing likely had THE SAME deal at the time, but didn't feel it was right to list all 150 at that time, and got pissed when Airbus took liberties to 'win' the year. Just my take on the whole thing. Either way, they both sold about the same number of planes, with or without the China order.

In China everything is political indeed. However, there was a difference between the Airbus deal and the Boeing deal. With Boeing China was giving the US a certain punishment because GW had come up with some politically sensitive statements before going to China (wasn’t it in Japan he said something about human rights or Taiwan that the Chinese didn’t particularly like?). Boeing, therefore, did not have their 150 at that time. They only got the rest - at least officially - later. Airbus got all theirs at once as no EU head of stat happened to have offended the Chinese sensitivities right before the order was to be given.